Chicks randomly crying out?

[sweetpea409]

This is hard to explain, and perhaps I am just being a paranoid first timer at raising chicks, but it's better to be safe than sorry. I have six little gals, about a week old, and they are doing great. They are still not quite used to me, and cry out when I hold them at first, though they calm down pretty fast now. Two of my chicks are red pullets, and they cry the loudest out of all of them, even though one of them, (Goldie,) is the tiniest of the whole group.

Anyway, on to my question: The gals peep here and there, nothing out of the ordinary, but tonight twice now, I have heard one of the red pullets let out their unmistakable loud peep. They usually only do this when they are scared from being picked up or moved for cleaning of their brooder. But it's just two or three loud peeps, then they quiet down. I of course have checked the two times they have done this, and nothing is out of the ordinary, the temperature of the brooder is fine, and they have food and water and are just roaming around as usual. They have been fighting over their roosting stick, so could that be it? I just am worried that something might be wrong that I'm just not noticing.

*(I blame my paranoia on when I raised a baby starling that had fallen from a building at about two days old, and he passed away from internal injuries from his fall 3 weeks later. I know how delicate these little babies can be!)*

 

[Zach123]

The loud PEEP usually means they are unhappy about something. What that something is could be anything from being cold to having a plugged up butt, or they are last in line at the feeder. Its like a newborn. They cry and cry but you just cant figure out why. If you notice them acting strangely, or they are crying out pretty constantly, then its time to start checking for problems, otherwise they could just be annoyed with something and.."oh my god a pine shaving!" they are over it.

 

[sweetpea409]

Ha! Okay, that's what I figured, because they are fine every time I check, except for the fact that the two red pullets are the only two chicks that have never had a turn on the roosting stick. It's been in there for 4 days now, and Pearl, one of my two barred rocks, and one of my bigger chicks has pretty much dominated it since the second I put it in the brooder. She's my most feisty chick. She comes up and pecks my hand when I try to pick up any of the chicks. One of my two red pullets that has never had a turn is the second biggest of the chicks, but the tiniest of the chicks is the other red pullet, and she is the biggest cry baby of the group. But she's also soooo precious! lol I'm guessing it's her crying every time I hear it.

 

[Fierlin1182]

Yeah, the peeping is pretty normal, chickens get annoyed too. I have a chicken who'll go for my hand whenever I try to pick any of the others up (I'm pretty sure she'd do it when I picked her up if she could reach from up there ). That also seems to be pretty normal.

 

[theoldchick]

The loud peep is the chick's version of, "Get your foot out of my face!" "Stop touching me!" "MOM! He's touching me!"